The dangers of UV radiation are factual, and public ignorance concerning these matters could lead to increase health problems in the future. One of the most common effects of UV radiation is erythema (or sunburn). Sunburn occurs when skin cells are damaged by UV radiation absorption. To compensate for this damage the skin sends extra blood to the damaged area in an attempt to heal it, which accounts for the skin redness. Long term exposure to UV radiation is linked to many type of skin cancers some of them fatal.
The UV index has been designed as a tool to warn the public of the damaging effects of UV radiation. An effort was started in Australia in the 1980's to report the UV radiation measured the previous day and was aided by a large sun protection campaign. In 1992, Environment Canada began issuing a next day forecast of clear sky UV levels called “UV index.” Since then, many other countries, including the United States, have issued UV index forecasts (i.e., a predicted UV level for the next day) in order to increase the people's awareness of the damaging solar UV levels.
To date, however, there is no mechanism to inform the general public of the amount of UV radiation that is being received currently at a specific geographical location (i.e., “right now” at your town or city). Surface UV instruments are available to measure surface UV levels but these instruments are difficult to maintain and their coverage is only limited to specific geographical locations and to a few dozen instruments for a given country. No existing solutions have been proposed to solve these problems.
Therefore, a need exists for the creation of a synthetic UV index to provide current UV index values for all locations, preferably without the need for UV instruments. Also, a need exists for determination of a current synthetic UV index that accounts for the effects of cloud cover, total column ozone of a particular location, and other factors. There also is a need for an approach for determining a current synthetic UV index that expands the number of current UV index observations beyond those locations that are equipped with ground-based UV instruments. Further, systems and methods of determining a current synthetic UV index for a specified location that solve one or more of the disadvantages existing in the prior art while providing other advantages over the prior art would represent an advancement in the art.